by Libbylawrence
Continued from The Brave and the Bold: Nightwing and Firestorm: Chilled Memories
The trail was not difficult to follow. Clues lay scattered along the path, unnoticed by the police. Frank McDonald, despite being an experienced officer, hadn’t known enough about his missing niece’s neighbors to make the right connections. As Dick Grayson later realized, the entire abduction was a carefully orchestrated plan designed to lure him to a specific location. That revelation came later, but the urgency of the moment drove him forward.
When he first learned that his old girlfriend at Hudson University, Lori Elton, had gone missing, he was determined to find her. He had spoken to Frank McDonald, feeling the veteran cop’s pain, worry, and resentment. It was true that McDonald had blamed Dick for Lori’s suffering and disappearance. Dick felt more than a little guilty himself, for his desire to find her stemmed from a wish to right a past wrong.
After resolving my estrangement from Batman and coming to terms with Brother Blood’s efforts to control me, Raven’s problems, and Kory’s marriage, I figured it would only be right to get some closure with Lori, too. I had dropped out of Hudson University so abruptly, leaving her with little more than a distant goodbye. I never wrote, either, because I was always tangled up with cases involving Batman or the Titans. When Kory entered my life, I was afraid to love her at first, as her raw passion felt so alien to my nature and training. Yet, she won me over with her tireless love, and I never looked back at any of the other girls from my past, whether they were Lori, Betty, or any other.
Thoughts of these things occupied Dick Grayson’s mind as he rode his motorcycle through the rainy night. His skill and discernment were evident as he noticed every detail of his surroundings — something he did out of habit and training. He knew exactly where he was headed. The evidence had made the trail painfully clear.
When Lori moved to the apartment off-campus, she often spoke of a lonely retired woman who lived across the street and observed everything in the neighborhood through her binoculars. I knew that if anyone had noticed anything strange about Lori’s sudden departure months ago, it would have been Mrs. Berk. After checking with her, I learned that Lori had left abruptly one night with a woman driving a sports car. The license plate had caught her attention and stuck in her memory — T-Berg. It was close enough to her own name that she remembered it.
The description she provided of Lori’s friend only superficially matched my memories of Terri Bergstrom, but it is easy enough to change hair color or style. McDonald never realized that Lori’s neighbor watched the street so regularly or was so lonely. The distance was great enough that, without binoculars, she could not have seen anything. He didn’t check, and that was his error. The fact that Mrs. Berk went into the hospital shortly afterward made it even less likely that he or anyone else would try to question her.
I tracked Terri down through a DMV search. It was her car, and she lives in Westfield, Dick thought.
Terri Bergstrom was a mystery in her own right. A former Hudson University student, she possessed psychic powers that had thrust her into deadly situations, requiring Dick to rescue her while still using his old Robin identity. Trained by Batman in deduction, disguise, martial arts, and other skills, Dick knew his business well. It was through his Robin identity that he had also met Terri’s cousin, Lilith Clay, a member of the Teen Titans. Lilith and Terri shared a peculiar bond, both possessing mental abilities. (*) However, Dick later learned that the Clays were not Lilith’s true family; she was the daughter of a true Titaness named Thia. (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See “The Secret of the Psychic Siren,” Batman #241 (May, 1971), “Death-Point,” Batman #242 (June, 1971), and “The Origin of Lilith,” New Teen Titans v2 #7 (April, 1985).]
Since Lilith has no true blood tie to Terri, then Terri’s own mental powers and their effect on Lilith can’t be explained as something unique to their family, he reasoned. Terri’s mental powers must originate from some other source, potentially capable of affecting others in addition to Lilith.
The effect he referred to was sinister in nature. Terri had supposedly turned Lilith evil merely by being in proximity to her, creating a type of negative mental energy that the shapely Titan was vulnerable to due to her own powers. They had reluctantly separated, and as far as he could determine from Lilith, they had rarely communicated since that parting.
The heart of the small college town came into view, and a frown crossed Dick Grayson’s face as he detected a furtive figure exiting a jewelry store. Dressed in a costume and carrying a strange device, she had apparently silenced any security alarm the store possessed. Great. Do costumed punks follow me everywhere I go? he wondered ruefully. Pulling into an alley, he swiftly and skillfully changed into his Nightwing identity.
Emerging from the shadows, he spotted the woman racing into the night. Gripping an awning, he swung himself upward. From the vantage point of a store roof, he tracked her path and easily intercepted her by darting skillfully from one store to another. “Never any traffic jam on roofs,” he laughed as he dropped down in her path.
A streetlight illuminated her startled expression, though her half-mask concealed the upper part of her face. She was lovely, with waist-length, reddish-blonde hair. Her figure was trim and lithe, clad in a halter-top with red and gold coloration. The midriff was bare but firm, while her red pants flowered at the bottom where they tucked into yellow, high-heeled boots. The costume featured several card suit emblems across her mask and chest.
“The Card Queen!” he gasped in recognition as she swung her line around, a stylized club missing Nightwing’s face by mere inches. (*) “Don’t make me deck you,” he quipped, flipping backward and circling her warily. Can’t be Duela. She was heavy last time I saw her. This woman has rock-solid abs, he mused.
[(*) Editor’s note: See “The League of Crime,” Detective Comics #482 (February-March, 1979) and “Terminus,” Detective Comics #483 (April-May, 1979).]
She laughed, her voice teasing. “Don’t be cocky, stud. I have an ace up my sleeve!” With that, she whipped out a small gun and fired a greenish cloud of vapor.
Nightwing was ready, having already covered his nose with a rebreather. He was familiar with the woman’s style and her traditional weaponry. The club-line, gas-gun, and throwing gems, he thought as he grabbed her wrist and twisted the gun out of her hand.
She retaliated by cutting at his chest with a sharp, diamond-shaped object. He turned aside, pinning her arms in the process. Clearly enjoying the fight, she exuded pleasure, if not exultation, in the combat. With a swift kick backward, she knocked him off his feet. Spinning around, she flipped him over her back, but he quickly turned and landed on his feet to tackle her. As she fell, she lifted, but he countered her move by elbowing her in the chin and rolling aside.
“You move well, handsome!” she purred. “I’d like to play with you again, but this has to be the final deal of the night.”
Nightwing gasped as she caught him with a flashing gem, leaving him dazed as she escaped into the night. Batman would have been ashamed. She blinded me like I was a novice. How’d she get the drop on me? he wondered. For that matter, who is she? The costume and gear match those used briefly by the former Titan called Harlequin, alias Duela Dent — but she retired and hung up her costume long ago. Still, it was only two or three years ago that I realized she was lying about her past when she claimed to be the daughter of Two-Face. Something tells me I let that mystery go unsolved for too long. I also think Lori’s disappearance is connected to this new Card Queen, and possibly the old one, too.
***
Nightwing soon learned that the Card Queen had robbed the jewelry store of numerous costly gems. Over the last few weeks, she had also targeted several other stores and a bank in the small town. A check of crimes in the region matched her method of operation, revealing that she had been active in the tri-state area for some time.
She showed up around the time Lori left with Terri, thought Dick. I think I can assume the worst. Could Harlequin be stalking women connected to me? She always flirted with me when she was a Titan. Yet I feel certain this Card Queen is not Duela Dent. For that matter, she is neither Lori nor Terri, although I admit I had a wild notion that Lori had adopted a costumed identity as well.
Nightwing slipped inside the run-down home owned by Terri Bergstrom, easily locating it through his DMV check. No signs of occupation were evident. The house was dirty, yet little evidence suggested it had been lived in recently. Odd, he mused, noting the dust. Still, if there is one thing this former Teen Wonder knows about, it’s hidden headquarters. The dust ends around the rough outline of a trapdoor.
Bending down, Nightwing located and flipped open the trapdoor, then dropped down into a large, lighted chamber beneath the house. The space appeared to have been carved out of the ground like an old mine. Mining was an industry here back in the Depression, he recalled. I’d say the owner made use of the place for his or her own purposes. Maybe it’s the base of the new Card Queen.
A sound reached his ears, and Nightwing ducked just in time as the club-line smashed into the wall near his head. He caught the end and pulled hard. The Card Queen staggered into his arms, and he wrestled her to the ground. This time, he was in no doubt. He pulled off her mask, revealing a pretty and very familiar face. Lori! he thought. That left-handed move you used with the club and other features led me to recognize you this time. Still, she was not the first Queen I fought. The first one had true talent as a fighter.
“Lori Elton? The New Carthage Police are looking for you,” he said firmly but gently. “Frank McDonald is worried sick. I’m taking you in and getting some answers.”
“Don’t blow a fuse, Bat-Boy! I’ll give you all the answers your rapid-fire mind needs!” shrieked a familiar voice.
Nightwing whirled to see the mocking clown face of the Joker’s Daughter. Dressed in the purple suit of his old foe, she laughed mockingly as she brandished a huge powder puff. “You aren’t Duela Dent, either,” he replied. “I see someone is taking full advantage of her old images and gear. In fact, I think the whole situation is decidedly unfunny.” Releasing Lori, he kicked the puff back into the grinning female clown’s face.
“I’m immune to the toxin, Wings!” she sneered as her elongated arm shot forward to shock him with a gimmicked joy buzzer.
Frowning, he hurled a batarang toward her. She ducked, but by that time, he was already across the room and had roped her legs together with a bat-line. He clicked a pair of handcuffs on her wrists and wiped one hand across her face. The white clown makeup smeared, revealing a woman he had never seen before.
Nightwing turned to look at Lori Elton where she lay, bound by her own club-line. He knew this young woman very well; she was stable and would not have lightly become a criminal or donned a costume. He decided that it was likely the same could be said of this woman currently calling herself the Joker’s Daughter.
It’s got to be Terri, he told himself. She has learned that her mental powers can make anyone, not just Lilith, turn evil. She’s used them to get ordinary girls like this one dressed in the Joker suit and Lori to become versions of Duela’s old identities. (*) I’d say she came to Lori’s place, took her over, and ordered her to join her here. Come to think of it, there was a sighting of a feline thief in the next county. Catwoman has gone straight now, so it must be someone dressed as Catgirl. Duela posed as a Catgirl before, too, as well as a Scarecrone. (*) Terri may have a whole team of women trading identities to make her rich. I know Lori’s not drugged, so it must be some form of personality alteration like the one Terri forced on Lilith years ago.
[(*) Editor’s note: See “The Joker’s Daughter,” Batman Family #6 (July-August, 1976), “The Copycatgirl Capers,” Batman Family #8 (November-December, 1976), and “Startling Secret of the Devlish Daughters,” Batman Family #9 (January-February, 1977).]
Gently, he lifted the bound Lori to her feet. “Lori? Take me to Terri. She is behind all this, right?”
A strident laugh rang out as something struck him across the back of the head. He fell and knew no more.